Iris sends her winter love out to all and hopes that everyone is staying warm. It has been a busy time for her doing her job looking after me. Since I last wrote in the late part of 2013 we have had a few surgeries and some hard times dealing with some medical issues. For those worried we have put that all behind us at this point and now look forward to getting out of the cold and into action.

As you can tell Iris Jen and myself took that queue and went way south via the Celebrity Cruise Line's Reflection and spent 7 wonderful days in the Caribbean. This was not just a great vacation but actually a fund raiser put on by a group of Classic Car enthusiast and Sherry Leybovich ECCS, LCS, CTA

Your Cruise and Vacation Specialist

CruisePlanners, An American Express Travel Representative
Yes that is a plug for them please take advantage of it. Sherry and her office are amazing. Not only did she put this together but she and her husband Ron were on the cruise with us to make sure everything went well. I would love to mention everyones name but I know I would miss so many that I would make someone mad so I will not even try. What I will say is that this was the 3rd annual trip for this group and the largest turnout so far. Also it was the first yr that they used America's VetDogs as their Charity of choice so I was extra honored to be able to be there to allow them to meet Iris My Hero dog. The great news is this group raised over 6,000 dollars while having all sorts of fun and hopes to do even more next year.

Jen and I are hoping that we are able to go back next year because their destinations are Mexico and a private tour of Don Garlit's Museum by Don himself. This year they had Tim and Carrie Strange of Strange Motion along with Darnell Racing Enterprises of the ShockWave Jet Trucks. Both of which said they plan on being back next year. Needless to say once you've been on this trip with these car enthusiast if you like and love cars you'll want to go again. Not to mention the fact that when cruising your pampered and treated to some of the best dining and entertainment you can get anywhere. Of course when you top all that off by helping another veteran be able to get a service dog like Iris how can you lose?

So here is the finishing act on the classic plug for Sherry and her business:

Now for the next update. I no longer have my little camper so the wrap project as we knew it has a couple changes happening. I had to change trucks due to my nerve issues getting worse. Found that stalling out in the middle of intersections was not a great thing to do. After a few close calls and some great people at USAA I was able to make a trade in on the Tacoma and get a fully automatic 2014 Tundra. Well being the 100% guy I am of course with the bigger truck a smaller camper just did not look right so we were able to work some great magic out with the help of Truck Camper Wharehouse where Bill and Ryan made it possible for me to get into a 2014 Northstar Liberty at let's just say I should be looking for the blue lights in the rear view mirrors as I drive around. They worked with NorthStar and TorkLift (they had to build a custom set of tiedowns since the Tundra was so new) to make the deal even better and all I can say is thank you to everyone for all the help in keeping my dream alive to help other Veterans. The day after we got back from the Cruise I was able to head Northwest to Springfield where there was a RV Show and TCW had a large group of their campers on display. Was great to tell everyone I could how much I love my new Northstar thats for sure but it was even better to meet both Angela and Gordon White from Truck Camper Magazine. They were the great people that wrote the great article last year about Iris and I. They now want to do a follow-up on all the new activities we have going on.

Well there are many things coming up in the near future. I have written more then normal and hope that I have not bored anyone so stay tuned and I promise it won't be months before I write again.